Officer Cleared In I-64 Death

Veteran's Quick Actions Lauded

July 12, 1989|By RONNIE CROCKER Staff Writer

JAMES CITY (County) — Son Le, the Newport News man who shot a woman he was holding hostage in his car on Interstate 64, turned his weapon on a James City County police officer an instant before he was shot to death Friday afternoon.

Police Chief Robert C. Key, in the first full account of the shootout, said the officer jumped out of his unmarked patrol car and, standing in front of Le's 1984 Chevrolet Corvette, ordered the man to drop the .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol he had trained on Tran Nguyet.

Le ignored the command, sending a bullet into Tran's right arm and causing the 41-year-old woman to pass out. The officer responded with two quick shots from his 9mm automatic pistol and another command to drop the weapon. At that point, Key said, Le turned in his seat and pointed the gun at the officer.

Again, the officer responded with two shots, and Le didn't return fire. All four bullets had made their mark, one in Le's head and three in his upper body, Key said. His body fell onto the asphalt when the officer opened the door to the car.

His hostage was luckier; she was treated for the gunshot wound and released from the hospital that night.

Late Tuesday, Commonwealth's Attorney George C. Fairbanks IV announced that an investigation of the incident revealed the veteran officer violated no police procedures, and that his quick actions most likely saved Tran's life. Key said he had already reached the same conclusion, and the officer will resume normal patrol duties.

Key said Friday night that he would withhold the officer's name until after the investigation, but he and Fairbanks refused to identify the officer Tuesday for safety concerns. Key said the Police Department had received an anonymous phone call from a man with what sounded like a Vietnamese accent threatening "vengeance" for the killing.

Le, who was in his 20s, emigrated from Vietnam in 1984 and was known to have several friends in the local Vietnamese community.

Further revelations by Key indicate that Le was a desperate man who told his hostage that if police caught him he intended to kill her and then himself. Key said Le and Tran apparently had dated some time earlier, but that Tran, who is married and lives with her husband and three children, had broken off the relationship.

Tran told police Le continued to disturb her. When he assaulted her two days before the kidnapping, she swore out a warrant for his arrest. Police were unable to find him.

The last episode of Le's life began Friday afternoon when he went to Sherwood Arms Apartments in Denbigh and forced Tran into his car. The man got onto the interstate and drove 70-75 mph.

His car was spotted by a special agent with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control about 3:25 p.m. The agent, Dave Altman, spotted the car with its personalized plates "SON LE" after hearing it described as the car used in the abduction.

Altman called for help and was joined on the interstate by two James City cars, one marked and one not. The three cars boxed in Le and forced him to stop west of Toano, near the New Kent County line. The officer who fired the fatal shots came out of the front car, Key said.